It’s Duffee’s first fight since May, when he was upset at UFC 114 by Chicago fighter Mike Russow. After dominating the fight on the feet for two-plus rounds, the iron-jawed Russow landed a right hand that knocked Duffee out cold in one of the most dramatic come-from-behind wins in UFC history.

Duffee, who works with Grudge Training Center in Denver, was expected to take on Jon Madsen at UFC 121 but withdrew from the fight in August with a knee injury. Less than a month later, he received an email from the UFC notifying him that he had been cut by the promotion because of his loss to Russow.

“They had talked about me fighting Madsen,” Duffee told MMAjunkie.com soon after the release. “I asked if I could get some time.

“I had a knee injury going into the Russow fight. I’m not making any excuses because I lost that fight, and all props to Mike, but I definitely feel like it affected my gameplan and my mentality going into the fight. I didn’t want that to happen again with Madsen. I wanted to be able to go out there and fight to my full potential instead of just boxing, basically. I asked for more time, and as far as I knew, they had granted it to me.”

Heavy rumors persisted that a contract dispute may have played a role in his UFC release, though Duffee shot those down. He also dismissed notions that he clashed with UFC management when he condemned their choice to discuss his past as a Dairy Queen employee or when he petitioned The Underground, a popular MMA forum, for a weekend job to help supplement his income.

Yet UFC president Dana White later admitted that Duffee had run-ins with the promotion.

“I don’t like Duffee’s attitude,” he said just prior to UFC 119. “I don’t like some of the things he’s said or done. He made it seem to me like he doesn’t want to be in the UFC – like being here didn’t matter to him and he didn’t like it.

“You don’t want to be in the UFC, brother? OK. Being in the UFC is a very big thing for a fighter, and some guys get it and appreciate it, and some guys don’t. And the guys that don’t, I don’t have time for (them), and you won’t be around for long.”

Duffee’s name recently made waves again when it was revealed that he is one of two fighters to have received a therapeutic-use exemption from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to use medically prescribed testosterone (in this case, for his fight with Russow).

Testosterone-replacement therapy, or TRT, has been a hot topic since UFC fighter Chael Sonnen appealed his one-year suspension and fine from the California State Athletic Commission on the basis that he had low testosterone and had been approved for the therapy. (The CSAC earlier this month halved his suspension to six months and held intact his fine on the basis that he did not seek an exemption or disclose his testosterone use.)

Duffee burst onto the UFC scene at UFC 102 with a seven-second knockout of Tim Hague, which was the fastest knockout in the promotion’s history. The Russow loss was his first in seven professional appearances.

Wagner, meanwhile, has made one appearance since his turn on “The Ultimate Fighter 10,” a heavyweights-only season of the reality show on which he was knocked out in the preliminary round of the reality show by Madsen. In February, he took on Travis Browne in a regional event and was knocked out in eight seconds. Not long after that, Browne was awarded a UFC contract.

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